A bill in the Florida House would create an expressway authority with the power to add toll lanes to Interstate 75 in the southwest part of the state.

The bill, introduced earlier this month by Rep. Mike Davis, R-Naples, would allow the formation of an eight-member Southwest Florida Expressway Authority. Its sole mission would be to help expand the Florida Department of Transportation’s plan to widen I-75 to 10 lanes in Collier and Lee counties by 2010, instead of 2030.

FDOT already has more than $140 million allocated for adding six lanes to I-75 in Lee County by 2008, The News-Press reported. And by next year, the agency will have about $53 million allocated to making the freeway six lanes wide in Collier County by 2010.

The state, however, doesn’t have money budgeted to add any more lanes to the interstate after those years. FDOT’s long-range plans call for an additional four lanes being added to the road by 2030.

That is where the authority would come in. The authority would pay for the added lanes in the two counties, which lie along the state’s Gulf Coast north of the Everglades, by buying bonds and paying them off through user fees or tolls.

The amount of money the tolls would generate is not known, the newspaper reported. All toll revenue would stay with the I-75 authority.

If the Legislature and governor approve the bill – HB1615 – the authority could be established after July 1.